Technically UnLavaed
by ten.years.only.with.you
Summary: The real story behind Cappie's lavaliere, at least in my mind. I own nothing, but I wish I owned Scott Michael Foster.


It was a Tuesday at KT, and the usual shit was happening. Heath and Wade were having a competition on who could drink more Jell-O shots. Ben Bennett was practicing beer pong with Pickle and Gonzo in the lovely KT gardens. Of course, Jeremy was creeping, taking photos and such. The pledges were cleaning the living room with their toothbrushes. All seemed right but where was Spitter, and Beaver for that matter?

Trudging up the staircase, I stuck my hand into the pockets of my faded jeans. Then I saw Spitter sitting in front of the bathroom door by, reading the KT Lavaliere book. The way he had been studying that thing, you'd think I was going to give him a test.

"Beaver birth the lavaliere yet?" I asked.

My little brother wrinkled his nose and sighed deeply. "Not yet, but he's been eating a lot of fiber."

I made a face as he swung open the bathroom door, revealing Beav plopped down on the toilet seat, shoveling cereal into his mouth.

"This is my tenth bowl," he groaned.

Spitter looked at me, eyebrows raised and I facially toasted him with the same look. It was _my _signature face, after all.

"PLEDGES," Beaver commanded, giving Spitter and me the sign to flee as quickly as possible.

"Come on," I said, "Something tells me we're not gonna want to hear this." As if on cue, the pledges rushed up the stairs, wearing helmets and bearing their tools of choice for this assignment: tongs and colanders, as well as goggles. Hey, anything for a brother, that's just the KT way. Even if it involves bowel movements.

"Maybe I should just buy Jordan flowers or get a card with a poem on it," Spitter said, looking to me for answers.

"Poem cards are stupid. If you want to lavaliere her, I think you should do it," I told him, switching my navy pullover for my brand new starched cater waiter shirt.

"The doctor said that the lavaliere is passing through Beaver's small intestine, so of course it was the only one left in the whole store," he spat out, anger prevalent in all of his girlish features.

I sighed, my eyes meeting his and silently went over to my wardrobe. Just beyond my aftershave and scattering of condoms was a black leather box. In my mind, I considered it to be on the same level with Pandora's and hadn't laid eyes on it since freshman year.

"_Hey there sunshine," I had said to the woman behind the register at the Titan Bookstore. _

"_What can I help you with?" she asked, plastering a fake smile on her face and looking at me in disdain. Maybe I shouldn't have worn my Jamaica Me Horny shirt. _

"_Yes, I want to get a lavaliere," I told her, swelling with pride as I imagined how it would lay against the silk skin of her collarbone. Her perfect collarbone. Must concentrate on anything but her collarbone, lavaliere, lavaliere, lavaliere.... "The letters are Kappa Tau Gamma."_

_Her eyes had widened in surprise. "We haven't ever sold a KT lavaliere," she said, "I'm not even sure if we have one."_

"_Could you check in the back?" I inquired, flashing my most charming grin, the one that usually got me out of the doghouse. _

_She groaned and went in the back room, muttering and cursing under her breath. A minute or two later she came back holding a black leather box. "It's the only one we have, so I hope you like it."_

_I opened the box, peering inside at the golden KT letters, allowing my grin to spread stupidly across my face. "I'll take it," I told her, forking over my credit card. Worth every single penny._

_Now all I needed was a coconut custard pie._

I blinked and exhaled. "Here," I said, handing over the box to Spitter. I busied myself knotting the pink bow tie and avoiding his soon to be heavy gaze.

"What's this?" he asked, opening the box.

I could hear his breathing shift from normal to asthma-like as the golden KT letters glared up at both of us from their velvet home.

"Wait, why do you have a…" Spitter trailed off before realizing the gravity of the situation. "Cap, no I can't."

I sighed, rolling my eyes, and looked at Spitter. His eyes, the leaf green same as his sister's, examined me intensely. It was so difficult to lie when I could see so much of her in so much of him. "It wasn't meant for me," I told him, "But maybe it's meant for you."

_"Case," I started, "Was Evan the first guy to ever lavaliere you?" _

_My big sister looked at me, a slight color rising to her cheeks. "Well," she began, but I cut her off._

_"Cappie lavaliered you and you never told me!" I shouted. "Tell me everything." I sat on the edge of her bed, shoving mounds of designer clothing onto her kitty cat shaped rug._

_She sighed, busying herself by picking up the items on the floor. "Cappie never lavaliered me." Her face fell as she whispered the words, as if saying them pained her. _

_"Explain. I'm not leaving until you do. And you should know that he gave me his letters so I could lavaliere Jordan," I told her._

_"You're lavaliering Jordan!" she screamed. "I can't believe you didn't tell me sooner." She pulled me up from her bed and danced with me around the room._

_"I'm not one of your sisters," I said, wrenching myself from her grip. "And tell me about Cappie, please. Then I'll explain about Jordan."_

_She gave me one of her patented "fine" glances. "When Cappie and I worked on that midterm paper last year, when he found out about Evan's lavaliere, he tried to get me back." Her tone grew softer and her eyes dipped into her face as she spoke._

_"I knew that," I told her._

_"I'm not finished," she said exasperated. "At any rate, he pulled me back into first love and freshman year, reminding me of why I fell for him in the first place. He reminded me of coconut custard pie in bed, the first time we had sex. And it was awkward but perfect."_

_I made a face and she scoffed._

_"No one makes faces when you talk about losing your virginity," she said, her voice on high alert._

_"Keep talking," I told her softly. She looked up at me, and smiled shyly._

_"I remembered protesting protests, morning coffee and omelets in the comfort of the dorm room, how he would sing Spice Girls during karaoke to make me laugh, pulling me into the closet by the foot of the KT staircase, attending ZBZ formals when they all hated him, when I would take care of him when he was sick, playing hacky sack in the quad while the sun shined, what his eyes looked like the first time he told me that he loved me," Casey rummaged into her jewelry box, and pulled out an aged piece of paper. She sounded on the edge of tears._

_"Case," I replied softly, "It's okay, you don't have to…" My words couldn't escape when I saw what Casey handed me. It was a picture of my big brother and big sister sitting on the couch in the Kappa Tau living room. His head was in her lap, looking up at her as though she was the entire world, and she was glancing down at him, slight smile pulling at the corner of her mouth. They were completely absorbed in each other, Cappie's hands holding her face lovingly and Casey's hands wound in his hair. It was the most accurate portrayal of love that I had ever seen. _

_I glanced up at my big sister. Her face was full of emotion, heart heavy with all things unrequited. "Turn it over," she choked._

Casey. I love you isn't enough to describe the way I feel for you. It would be a lie to say that I'm sorry for trying to get you back before Evan lavalieres you, so I won't lie. And for you I'll be a man. I will be anything that you want, anything that you need, anything that brings you back home to me. When you asked me where I wanted to be in ten years, as long as you're with me, it doesn't matter.

"_Case," I asked, as her eyes welled up. She blinked them back, trying to keep composure. "What happened?"_

"_The night that Evan was due to lavaliere me, I found this and a coconut custard pie on the front steps of ZBZ," she whispered, pushing her golden hair behind her ears._

"_And…"_

"_When Evan was lavaliering me on the ZBZ lawn, Cappie and the rest of the KT's walked past, and I saw a glint of gold dangling from Cappie's hand."_

"_He was trying to lavaliere you from a distance?" I asked confused._

"_No," she scolded, "He was lavaliering me in his own way. He was promising himself to me, with a ZBZ lavaliere."_

"_Cappie lavaliered himself, with your lavaliere, as a promise that he would never go back on his word that he would be only yours, forever?"_

"_Yeah," Case said. "It sounds stupid, I know. She ducked her head, avoiding my eyes. "Rus, you're my brother and I love you, but don't give Jordan that lavaliere unless you mean forever. Cappie giving you that was his way of saying maybe you've found your other half."_

_I looked at the picture again, hoping that someday Jordan and I could be like my big sis and big bro. They looked easy, comfortable, yet exciting. They were meant to be. _

"_Case," I sang out, smile lighting my face. "I got an idea."_

I gave Cappie the lavaliere back. He didn't get why I did it until I said it was because I wanted coconut custard. His face was hard to read, but he didn't stay quiet.

"Spitter, you don't have to understand why I did what I did, but you can't give this back to me because it's not mine."

"I don't get it," I replied, confused.

He held out his wrist, adorned with all the bands, chains, and baubles that I could never keep track of. In the mess of leather, silver, gold, and hemp was a glint of tarnished metal. It looked old, worn, and sad. I glanced up into his face, and he sighed, yanking his plaid shirt sleeve over the jewelry.

"You've never taken it off," I stated, still in shock.

"I've never wanted to," he said. "I made a promise." Half smirking at me, he walked out of the room.


End file.
